Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

10 reviews

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book takes place in a reality in which Ireland is basically cut off from the rest of the world and at some point during adolescence, you will disappear and be teleported to a hellscape  called the Greylands (for 3 minutes in our time but it'll feel like hours to you) in which you'll be hunted by an intelligent race of creatures and you better hope they don't catch you.

Our main character is Nessa, a 14 year old girl who is disabled from a history of polio. Although she attends a school designed to train young people to survive, she knows there's not much hope for her to make it when shes "called" due to her disability - but she damn well is going to do her best.

This book was excellent. Nessa is a great character. It's a lot of fun watching her adapt. All the side characters are interesting. The worldbuilding is fun. The greylands are terrifying. While the characters in this book are young, the themes are actually fairly mature and the horror is scary. There's some serious body horror here and it's a lot of fun. This book could be enjoyed by all ages.

Something this book does that's really fun is that everytime one of Nessa's peers are "called" and vanish to the greylands, we get a chapter with the POV from their perspective as they fight for survival. Anyone who just liked the games portion of The Hunger Games will love this (it's more horror but a similar feel). 

You seriously feel the danger in this book. The stakes are high. We care about the characters. It's stressful. It's fun. I loved every second of this.

The ending was fantastic. 

Will I read the sequel? Honestly, I don't know if I will. I quite enjoyed how this one ended. Although the ending doesn't answer all our questions, the beauty of horror is that we don't need to understand everything in order to appreciate it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Ableism, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gore, Torture, and Stalking

Minor: Pregnancy and Confinement

This is not an extreme horror novel so things are pretty mind. There's some good ol body horror in the nightmare realm that is the grey lands. There's an attempted semi-sexual assault scene between some characters but it's mild.

ilaxaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Ableism, Blood, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Islamophobia

breedawnwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wow. This book was INCREDIBLE. I read it in two sittings because I literally couldn’t put it down.

This book is not for the faint of heart, since the content is both disturbing and mature, but I’d still recommend for older YA audiences.

If you like The Hunger Games, disturbing fae, boarding school stories, forbidden romance, and otherworldly cat-and-mouse games, you’ll love The Call. 

Just make sure you read the trigger warnings first!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Torture, Murder, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Cannibalism, Confinement, Cursing, and Self harm

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, Suicide, Alcohol, and Abortion

There are a ton of body horror/injury/deformation descriptions in this book. If you are sensitive to that, please don’t read this book. A male character attempts to rape a female character. It is a traumatic scene, but not overly graphic. It is mentioned that the male character forcibly kisses her and pushes himself against her. He also touches her boobs. There are LGBT relationships in this book. They are not a focal point, but there are references to homosexual dating, kissing, and desires.

g_xandra's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A read that is hard to put down. The fate of each character is hard to look away from, each time you have just a little hope. Similar feel to hunger games, but more body horror. 

Some of the characters do feel a bit one dimensional and predictable. But overall, a fun read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, Cursing, Sexism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, and Ableism

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book is good, but I’m not sure I enjoyed it. It’s very dark, and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Violence, Murder, Blood, Addiction, Child death, Torture, Ableism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Colonisation, Bullying, Body horror, Alcoholism, and Animal death

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Cannibalism, Confinement, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

wiktoria88's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, Self harm, and Death

ritafm2's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Death

Minor: Cannibalism and Self harm

s_b_b's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide

shetland_pone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Ableism and Bullying